


Explosion

by Burgie



Category: Star Stable Online
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-13
Updated: 2018-02-13
Packaged: 2019-03-17 16:00:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,722
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13662384
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Burgie/pseuds/Burgie
Summary: AU of how Justin came to be arrested by the druids.





	Explosion

Louisa glanced at her phone as it buzzed on her desk. It wasn’t a Wednesday, so it couldn’t be anything too important. Maybe it was from her friends, but she didn’t really feel like hanging out with them today. She’d just started training what was possibly the slowest horse in the world, was it too much to ask for a day off? Sighing, Louisa dragged the phone over to her anyway, wishing now that she’d turned her phone off when she’d sat down to have a lovely long day of doing nothing but bingeing Supernatural (according to Lea and the internet, the best character had just been brought back to life). But, when she actually read the text, Louisa’s eyes widened and she sat up straight, immediately pausing the DVD that she was watching on her laptop. The text was from none other than Nic Stoneground, Jorvik’s best and most interesting explorer.

“Louisa, something has happened,” the text read. “Normally, I go to the druids about any strange occurrences, but I have a bad feeling that telling the druids would be the wrong idea.”

“What happened?” Louisa texted back, also wondering when and how Nic had managed to get a mobile phone. At least he texted like she did, long, elaborate paragraphs. It was hard to turn off the writer part of her brain.

“It’s best if you come here and see for yourself,” Nic texted. “Maybe come alone? It’s hard enough to keep this a secret from my other researchers.”

“Okay, I’ll be there in a sec,” Louisa texted back, and closed the media player window before closing her laptop and heading outside to the stable. Everyone had one of the new fluffy North Swedish horses that had been shipped into Jorvik last Wednesday, but Louisa had promised not to buy any more horses until she’d finished training her current lot, so she grabbed her trusty steed Frostguardian, a fluffy little chestnut Icelandic, and took the horse trailer to Steve’s farm.

After the noise of Steve’s farm (which was quieter than usual, everyone having moved to Dundull), Louisa was almost defeaned by the silence of the Valley of the Hidden Dinosaur. Even up in the sky, it was completely and utterly silent but for the noise of the hot air balloon and the basket creaking from Frost shifting around.

“What is that?” Louisa murmured, leaning out of the basket slightly. There seemed to be a large dust cloud hanging in the air above where Nic’s camp was, and Louisa carefully guided the balloon down to its usual spot before tying it down and hopping out with Frost. Elsa Einstein immediately strode over, though at first Louisa thought that she was a yeti under her several layers of warm clothing.

“There you are!” said the mad scientist. “My complete and utter buffoon of a research partner refuses to tell me anything, he said that he’ll only speak to you.” She huffed, then scurried back over to the campfire. Louisa rolled her eyes and climbed into Frost’s saddle, riding her little Icelandic at a walk over to the pillar where Nic stood. Or, rather, where the pillar had once been. 

“Woah,” said Louisa, staring at the path that had been revealed by the absence of the pillar.

“Louisa, it’s good to see you again,” said Nic, hurrying over to her and shaking her hand with one of his larger gloved hands. Louisa made a mental note to ask him where he got his gloves from, though Elsa had probably knitted them for him out of horse fur or something equally strange.

“Likewise,” said Louisa, trying not to shiver in the intense cold. “What happened here?” She gazed up at the space revealed by the pillar again.

“I think it was Justin,” said Nic, gesturing to the dark form of a young man sitting among the rubble. Louisa’s eyes widened as she saw him, immediately hurrying over to him.

“Justin?” asked Louisa, dismounting and kneeling at his side. She touched his face, finding it ice-cold through her gloves. “What happened?” Glancing over him, she saw that he somehow looked relatively unscathed despite his pale skin and the rubble that he was currently sitting in. Though, there was a new addition over the black turtleneck sweater that he wore- an amulet that looked a lot like Kallstone with a silver ring around the narrow end, hanging from a silver chain around his neck.

“I-I don’t know,” said Justin, his eyes still looking rather spacey as he stared down the road that he’d uncovered. “I just put on my mum’s amulet last night, the one that she left me. I forgot that I even had it, but then last night I decided to look through my room and I found it in my bedside drawer.”

“Wow, and here I thought it was just a family heirloom,” said Louisa. “I guess things are never what they seem in Jorvik.”

“But I can’t even remember getting here,” said Justin. “I guess I walked the whole way? But I don’t feel like I walked, my legs and feet don’t hurt at all.”

“Can you even feel them in here?” asked Louisa. “Because I sure can’t feel my extremities, and I’m wearing the Winter Master set.”

“Yes, I can feel them,” said Justin. “But that’s the other weird part, I feel fine. Like the cold isn’t affecting me at all.”

“Weird,” said Louisa. “I envy you, though.” She shivered again, emphasising her point.

“You’re a Soul Rider,” said Justin, suddenly turning to her and staring at her with those big, brown eyes. “Do you know what’s happening to me? Am I turning into a monster just like my grandfather always hoped? I blew up a pillar!” He gestured to what he was sitting in. “And I don’t even remember it, I just blacked out when I felt a rush of power after putting the amulet on and the next thing I know, I’m sitting here surrounded by shards of ice and stone!”

“Breathe, Justin,” said Louisa, rubbing soothing circles into his back. “I’m sure we’ll figure this out. But for what it’s worth, if the amulet was from your mother, then I don’t think that it could’ve unlocked any bad magic. I don’t know anything about your mother, but I’m pretty sure that she wasn’t born from a General too.”

“But how can we know for sure?” asked Justin, tears in his eyes as he looked at her. 

“You could ask your dad,” said Louisa. “Or Jasper. Who knows, she could’ve been part Winter Spirit for all we know. One of my horses is part Winter Steed, and one is an actual Winter Steed.”

“So I have ice powers like Queen Elsa?” asked Justin. Louisa allowed him a smile.

“Maybe,” said Louisa. “Or maybe they’re some other powers, the likes of which we’ve never seen before. But what I know for sure is that whenever a new area is opened on Jorvik, it’s always for a good reason and it’s never a bad thing.” She glanced down the road again, excitement fizzing through her semi-frozen veins at the prospect of adventure.

“You can go explore if you want,” said Justin. “I still have so many questions but maybe I should work on just standing up first.”

“Good idea,” said Louisa, standing and offering a hand to help him up. “Go and sit by the fire, you might just be in shock and I don’t want you to freeze to death.”

“Okay,” said Justin, nodding, and stood, walking over to the fire and taking a seat on one of the small wooden ‘benches’.

“Report back to me on what you find, won’t you?” said Nic as Louisa mounted Frost again and pointed him down the road.

“Yeah, of course,” said Louisa, nodding. She nudged Frost into a walk, and he obeyed her, walking slowly down the road. Their breath misted in the air, but Louisa was surprised to find that it was getting warmer. Her hands began to thaw, as did her face, though it was still cold.

The road was gently winding, as Louisa had seen when she’d climbed the small hill beside the path and peeked in several months ago. An invisible barrier had stopped her from getting in properly, though. But it was gone now, clearly. The flora here was still quite dead and covered with a fine dusting of snow, as was the road, but it merely felt like when winter occasionally came to Jorvik. 

“This is pretty,” Louisa murmured, looking around. The temperature continued to rise as they went along the road, Frost’s hooves getting slightly muddy from the melting snow.

“It’s very pretty,” Frost agreed, looking around at the surroundings and drifting off the road slightly. “Oops.”

The road went around one more bend, a few large rocks appearing, and then Louisa’s breath was taken away once more.

“Wow,” Louisa whispered, a soft breeze tinged with music and the scent of many wildflowers touching her face and blowing her hair back gently. Even Frost seemed to be holding his breath, his ears swivelling around as he closed his eyes and leaned in to the new place.

“I’m no Goldie, but I’m pretty sure that this place feels magical,” said Frost, finally opening his eyes as Louisa nudged his sides with her heels. “I feel like we shouldn’t be here.” Louisa felt an odd tingle in her skin too, one that had nothing to do with her own excitement. It raised the hairs on her arms and the back of her neck.

“Me too,” said Louisa, feeling tears spring to her eyes just from the overwhelming feeling of reverence. And she wasn’t even religious. But this glade… she’d heard about the Garden of Eden from her friend of the same name, and this area felt more like it than anything else. A beautiful glade, untouched by human hands, filled with trees and flowers. There seemed to be a pink light here, too, almost like Pandoria. But this area didn’t come with the foreboding feeling of Pandoria- it felt almost like heaven. The only thing that it lacked was any wildlife, but then again, it was closed in by high cliffs and rocky mountains, so she shouldn’t be too surprised.

“Let’s leave?” asked Frost. “I’m sure that we’ll be properly allowed in here one day.”

“You’re right,” said Louisa, though she hated to tear her eyes away from this place. “There’s probably another forcefield in there anyway.” 

“Yes,” said Frost. “I feel like I really shouldn’t be here.”

“I wonder if Goldie would feel any different,” said Louisa.

“He probably would, being your Soul Steed,” said Frost. “Come on, let’s get out of here.”

“I need to tell the druids about this,” said Louisa on the way out. She sighed. “They’ll probably interrogate Justin, but…”

“They need to know,” said Frost. “It’s them or Dark Core. Something this big can’t be ignored.”

“I know,” said Louisa, closing her eyes. “Sorry, Justin.”

Louisa didn’t even need to worry about contacting the druids, though, because a squirrel was running around the campsite when she arrived back there. It wore a little dark blue knitted sweater with a snowflake on it, which Louisa would have found amusing under any other circumstances. But she could only feel a deep sadness and guilt that Justin was about to have to face up to what had happened.

“We have to go, Justin,” said Louisa, looking sadly at the young man who still sat by the fire, staring into it. He turned around when he heard her, having not even noticed the squirrel. He’d been so deep in thought that he’d barely been aware of anything.

“Huh, why? What happened, what did you find?” asked Justin. Nic looked like he wanted to ask the same questions, but he understood when things were secret druid business and went back to bending over his still-incomplete map of the valley.

“I found a glade that I’m pretty sure is sacred,” said Louisa. “And I just got a message from the Spy Master. Fripp wants to see you immediately.”

“Oh,” said Justin, immediately closing himself off again. Louisa hated to see him like that. “I guess that couldn’t have gone unnoticed, huh?”

“No,” said Louisa. “I’m sorry.” 

It was quite a somber ride up the Frozen Road and to the elevator. Justin stayed on the back of Frost, deep in thought, while Louisa stood beside her horse in the elevator and then led him out of the elevator and onto the rickety old ramp leading up to it.

“Do we have to go right now?” asked Justin as they passed by Elizabeth’s cottage.

“Trust me, I’d rather not take you at all,” said Louisa. “But I have to. And it’s better for the druids to know so that they can teach you how to use your newfound magic.”

“Yeah, and figure out exactly what it is,” said Justin. “Hey, what about Ydris? He knows a lot about magic, right? Surely he’d know something?”

“I’m sure he does, but he can’t protect you from those who might want to use you,” said Louisa.

“So we’re choosing the lesser of two evils,” said Justin. “Great…”

“It might be okay,” said Louisa. 

“Yeah, but you don’t know that,” said Justin. Louisa sighed, wishing that she could reassure Justin. But she couldn’t. She could only hope that she wasn’t taking Justin to his doom as she rode around the spiral path and was transported to the Secret Stone Circle. Once there, Justin dismounted, looking worried as he looked at Fripp.

“I brought him,” said Louisa. “Do you think that you guys can help him with his newfound powers?”

“Perhaps,” said Fripp, looking up at Justin. He teleported onto Frost’s nose so that he could better see the amulet that Justin wore around his neck. “Hmm, now that is odd. Louisa, what did you say you found along that road?”

“A sacred glade,” said Louisa. “It just felt very reverent.”

“Hmm,” Fripp hummed. “Now, that does sound interesting. What you found was quite possibly a Sacred Druid Grove, where druids go to meditate or to recover from injury or illness. But as for young Justin here, I am afraid that we are going to have to hold him in our druid prison until such a time as we can deal with him.”

“Wow. Wait, what?” asked Louisa, getting sudden mood whiplash as Fripp answered her two questions quickly. “No, you can’t imprison him! What about his family, his friends, his obvious PSTD?” Her eyes blurred with tears as her heart pounded. How was she going to tell Zelda that she’d taken Justin to prison? How was she going to tell Zeal?

“I’m sorry, but it’s the safest way to deal with this,” said Fripp. “In our prison, he will be safe from the enemy until such a time as we can discover the nature of his powers and of the amulet that clearly harbours them.”

“Wait, so my powers only come from this amulet?” asked Justin, looking down at it. 

“Not quite,” said Fripp. “I am only making an educated guess, given what information you have presented me with now, but I believe that your powers were always inside you, but the amulet unlocked them.”

“Well, it did fill me with this sense of power,” said Justin. “And then I just blacked out and next thing I knew, I was sitting in the rubble of a giant ice pillar. But I didn’t feel the cold in Dino Valley.”

“Well, I’m sure that we’ll figure out what’s going on soon,” said Fripp. “But right now, we are currently in the middle of bringing back our fourth and final Soul Rider. Sorry, fifth, I keep forgetting about you, Louisa.”

“Gee, thanks,” said Louisa, but she couldn’t muster the energy to feel bad for herself. “What am I going to tell Justin’s friends and family, his girlfriend?”

“Just say that we are keeping him safe,” said Fripp. “Safe from his grandfather.”

Louisa felt numb as she left Justin behind in the Secret Stone Circle. It had been a day of discoveries, yes, but also a day of crushing loss. Maybe she needed to spend some time in the Sacred Druid Grove or whatever it was called.


End file.
